


Exercises in Desperation

by Kandakicksass



Series: Dying (to see you in the) Light [6]
Category: Dying Light (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-13
Updated: 2015-10-13
Packaged: 2018-04-26 06:09:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4993231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kandakicksass/pseuds/Kandakicksass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kyle finds Rahim, blows the nest, and prays that his boy is going to make it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Exercises in Desperation

“ _That’s right! Keep coming, you motherfuckers! I’ll send you all to hell!”_

It’s so ridiculously Rahim that Kyle breathes out in relief, just for a moment. There are seven or so biters, all clawing at one of the train cars in the warehouse. It’s sealed off, with no gaping holes in the wall – once he takes care of these few, he’ll be set.

It doesn’t take long. He kills two with a quick snapped neck, and climbs up onto the train car to knock the rest of them down with a baseball bat. He wipes his hand across his forehead when they’re all down for the count, and hops down to start forcing the car’s door open.

He should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.

A Toad drops out of however, hitting him almost immediately with the disgusting acid he’s grown to hate with a passion. “Fuck,” he mutters under his breath. The Toad, at least, is also fairly simple to kill. He’s pulled back behind some barrels and crates, and darts out to stand flat against the train car. He gives it a second for the monster to spit, then climbs up and bashes its head in with the bat.

He grimaces down at the corpse. Simple, but effective. And fucking messy, he adds internally, making a face at the gore that splattered across his torso and legs.

He jumps down and goes to open the door again. This time, he succeeds.

Rahim’s face is a _blessing_. Kyle’s never been so afraid in his life, and it’s like suddenly all that fear melts away. “Ra-“

“Kyle,” Rahim says, sounding a bit strangled. He’s pushing something forward as he speaks – oh _fuck,_ no. “I didn’t think I’d make it, so I armed the bombs. They’ll blow in less than five minutes!”

It’s important, and demands his attention, but the blood coming from his leg is a little more alarming to Kyle. “Shit, kid! You’re bleeding!”

“Huh?” Rahim says weakly. “Oh, I –“

“I’ve got Antizin, if you –“

Rahim pauses just enough to register what he said, and then he nods quickly, holding out his other hand for it. “Give it to me, Kyle, I can administer it myself. Just go, plant the bombs!”

Kyle doesn’t want to leave him alone – god, there is nothing he wants to do less. Still, they’re screwed if he doesn’t. He hands over the Antizin and grabs the explosives, trying not to look at the timer.

“Don’t move, you got it? I’ll be right back!” he says urgently, and slams the door shut. Immediately, he turns his comm on. “Rahim, can you hear me? Rahim? Where the fuck am I going with these things?”

He can hear rustling – hopefully, Rahim using the damn drugs. “There’s a sewer entrance here in the terminal, near the west wall. Use that tunnel; it’ll take you straight to the hive.” He sounds like he’s gritting his teeth, but Kyle hears him and finds the entrance just fine. He lowers himself into the manhole and drops into the flooded tunnel. Flooded is good. Flooded means no biters.

At the end of the tunnel, he pulls himself up a ladder. “Okay,” he says into the comm. “I’m back on the surface!” He’s already making for a pipe, leading toward the tower.

“See that big-ass culvert over to your right? Head through it.” He is. “Once you get into the building, head up the ramp and get up to the floor above. You need to put the bomb on one of the big support columns.” He sounds a little faint, and Kyle doesn’t bother to respond. He’ll check on Rahim when they’re not all at risk of being blown to smithereens.

The actual planting of the bomb? Not as easy as all of that. The tower is filled with infected, and there’s a couple virals that keep coming after him. He doesn’t bother to kill them, not on a timer like they are. He just knocks them down, hits hard enough to stun, and runs for it. Once on the first floor, there’s a gaping hole in the ceiling of a back room, and he uses it to pull himself up onto the second floor.

There’s a beam close to him in the main room, and he sets it up as quick as he can. He still has a second part, and he makes for the staircase leading up to the next floor. It requires a little maneuvering, considering that there’s a whole section of floor missing, but he balances on support beams and makes his way through. Once the second charge is planted, he makes for the way he came in – only to be interrupted when a wall bursts open behind him.

It’s a fucking Goon, or he thinks it is – he waits for it to move forward a little, and then darts behind it, sprinting for the hole in the floor. He sees light; there’s obviously a way out.

He can see the light, see a whole section of the wall blown out. He can also hear Volatiles behind him, and he almost panics at the sound. He can still hear the ticking of the bomb in his ears.

There’s a square section of wood beneath the exit, and he jumps down onto it. The force is enough to make a loud thud, but not enough to break it.

He heads back for the sewer tunnel.

“Rahim, it worked, man! Your plan worked, kid!” he says breathlessly into the comm, watching the tower go down. He’s almost laughing, giddy from the success. “Rahim?” The almost-laughter dies away. “Hey, do you copy?” No response. “Shit,” he mutters, trying to ignore the obvious. _He’s fine. He’s got to be fine_.

He swims through the tunnel, even more flooded in his absence. The explosion must have caused something else to burst.

By the time he climbs back up into the warehouse, he feels almost paralyzed with fear. What if he opens the door and Rahim is… no.

“Rahim, it’s me,” he says anyway as he starts prying open the train car door. “I did it. Rahim, you should have seen it – the whole damn building came down!”

Rahim’s still lying on the ground, the Antizin laying empty next to him. He’s obviously injected it, so he should be fine, shouldn’t he? Kyle crawls up into the car, and kneels next to Rahim. His eyes are closed.

“Rahim?” he whispers. “Hey, buddy, c’mon. Open your eyes.” His hands are shaking, just a little, as he cups Rahim’s face, tilts it toward him. “Rahim?” The trembling gets worse, and he bites back the urge to yell. He pulls his hands away from Rahim’s face, grips his shoulders, and shakes a little. “ _Rahim_ , open your eyes, man, come on!”

He could cry, and nearly does, when Rahim’s eyelashes flutter, and he looks up Kyle at through tired, unfocused eyes. “Oh, hey, man,” he says weakly, his voice almost inaudible. “How’d it go?”

Kyle can’t help himself; he really can’t. He huffs a laugh and leans in, and presses a kiss to Rahim’s lips with almost bruising force. Rahim moves a little, his lips trying clumsily to kiss back, but he’s exhausted and only half-awake. Kyle pulls away, and roughly rubs at his eyes with the back of his hand.

“You’ve lost a lot of blood,” he says, gruff and trying not to get sappy. “I’ll fix up the bite for you, okay? Just enough that we can get you back to Lena.”

“Okay,” Rahim agrees easily, and he watches Kyle with hazy, content eyes as he bandages up the leg. Thank god he carries medical kits on him. Thank god he’d asked Brecken for Antizin. He refuses to think about how this would have ended if he didn’t.

He’s just finished with the bandages when his comm comes to life. “Crane, do you copy? What’s going on?”

It’s more than a relief that he can answer with a smile. “Brecken. Rahim’s fine; I’ve got him.”

There’s a heavy sigh on the other end. “Thank fuck.” Then, louder, he says, “I’m going to kick your fucking ass, Rahim, do you hear me?”

Rahim’s eyes are closed again, but his hand lifts just enough to show Kyle his thumbs up. He laughs again and curls his hand around Rahim’s ankle. “He hears you,” he tells Brecken. “Loud and clear.”

Kyle couldn’t care less about Omar right now, or Brecken kicking anyone’s ass. Rahim looks so much younger in his sleep, his breath evened out. Kyle can’t seem to care about anything else except him.

“I’m gonna let him sleep for a little bit,” he says into the comm. “And then I’m taking him to the safe house near here. We probably won’t be back until tomorrow. He was bit, and I think he’s okay now, but he’s exhausted.”

“Thank god you asked for that Antizin,” Brecken says quietly, and Kyle exhales slowly.

“Yeah,” he agrees. “I’m glad I did. I’d prefer it if I hadn’t needed it, but at least he’s alive.”

They talk a little longer about unimportant details, and then Kyle clips the comm back to his belt. When Rahim wakes up, he’s tired, but lucid, and can walk on his leg well enough that Kyle’s okay with dragging him toward the safe house in the residential area underneath the overpass. When they get there, he climbs up directly underneath Rahim just in case his leg gives out, and orders him immediately to bed once they’re in.

“You don’t have to baby me, you know,” he snaps tiredly as Kyle herds him toward the sleeping bag resting on an old mattress. “I’m a grown man.”

“You’re also hurt, and you scared me to fucking death today, Rahim,” Kyle tells him, half-patient. “Let me make sure you’re okay.”

Rahim pauses and just examines his face, before he quits trying to fight Kyle’s pushing toward the bed. He does stop walking however, and turns his entire body around to face Kyle. He slides his arms underneath Kyle’s and hugs him around the waist, burying his face in Kyle’s neck.

It’s like a reflex. He automatically wraps his arms around Rahim’s shoulders and hugs him back. “I’m sorry,” Rahim says, muffled by Kyle’s skin. “I shouldn’t have gone out, not without you. I didn’t mean to –“

“You’re okay,” Kyle interrupts, and he presses his cheek to Rahim’s head, inhaling. He smells like sweat and the remnants of hair gel Kyle doesn’t know how he’s been getting, but he’s alive. “That’s all that matters right now.” Rahim nods, and when Kyle directs him toward the sleeping bag, he goes. They don’t get inside the bag; it’s summer, so he’s not worried about it. It’d be a tight fit anyway, because Kyle isn’t sleeping anywhere but right at Rahim’s side. “Never again,” he says quietly, pressed against Rahim’s back with his arm wrapped tight around Rahim’s waist and his mouth against Rahim’s ear. “You hear me? Never again, Rahim.”

He nods, but doesn’t respond. He’s probably still shaken, and that’s okay. Kyle kisses the back of his neck, waits for him to relax, and then falls asleep to the beat of Rahim’s heart underneath his palm.

 


End file.
